Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Warnings in 1995

Tornado Warning 40, NWS Des Moines, IA

July 8, 1995Hamilton County, Iowa

NWS Des Moines, IA issued this tornado warning at Jul 8, 1995, 10:49 PM CDT for Hamilton County, Iowa. It was in force for 31 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jul 8, 1995, 10:49 PM CDT (03:49 UTC)
Expired
Jul 8, 1995, 11:20 PM CDT
In force
31 min
Issued by
NWS Des Moines, IA
Area
Whole counties

County Hamilton County, IA

The radar

The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 73 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:53 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 00:00Z, 3.8 hours before the alert went out and 250 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Omaha, NE at 00:00Z on 1995-07-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 2763 joules per kilogram.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Omaha, NE at 00:00Z on 1995-07-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 18 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.
Mixed-layer CAPE
2763 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-4 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1704 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
18 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
149 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.4
Supercell composite
6.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KDSM 090349
TORDSM
IAC079-090420-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
1049 PM CDT SAT JUL 8 1995

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  HAMILTON COUNTY - CENTRAL IOWA

* UNTIL 1120 PM CDT
 
* SOME TOWNS AFFECTED
  BLAIRSBURG
  ELLSWORTH
  JEWELL

* AT 1045 PM CDT RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO AT THE INTERSECTION
  OF HIGHWAYS 69 AND 20 MOVING SOUTH 25 MPH.

* THE STORM WILL BE NEAR ELLSWORTH BY 11 PM.


IF YOU ARE NEAR THIS DANGEROUS STORM...TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY IN THE
LOWEST FLOOR AND INNER MOST ROOM OF A BUILDING.

FORSTER

The office that day

Everything else NWS Des Moines, IA issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 8, 9:27 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXFranklin, Wright33 min
Jul 8, 9:33 PM CDTTornado WarningDMXWright32 min
Jul 8, 10:04 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXWright31 min
Jul 8, 10:17 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXHamilton43 min
Jul 8, 11:19 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXStory46 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Iowa, 1995Every tornado warning in 1995Tornadoes in 1995

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.